| OneLife Institute Board & Staff |
OneLife Institute is blessed by the servant-leadership of some amazing individuals. Their profiles, below, offer only a hint of the gifts of heart and experience they bring to all that they do...
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| Valerie Brown |
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| Valerie L. Brown (Board Vice Chair) is a music minister, professional vocalist, arranger/composer, and producer. Her musical career spans four decades -- from her formative years singing in the church, to being honored as "Best Female Vocalist in the Army" during a tour of duty in the late 1970's, to her contributions to the Womyn's Music movement (as "Satko") and direction of VOICES: Lesbian Choral Ensemble. Brown has performed in venues as diverse as the Santa Rita Prison, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and Carnegie Hall.
Brown
earned a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from San Francisco State
University, with a minor in Voice from the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music. She worked for 13 years in the corporate banking world with
Wells Fargo in their Electronic Banking and Loss Prevention
Departments, and spent five years as a Registered Representative and
Senior Associate with WMA Securities, Inc. and the National Association
of Securities Dealers.
As a disability rights activist,
Brown participated in successful litigation for the enforcement of ADA
statutes. She worked with the Bay Area Outreach & Recreational
Program (BORP) coaching wheelchair basketball and soccer in their Youth
Sports Program, and was a member of the silver-medal U.S. Women's
Wheelchair Basketball team in the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, Spain.
The year 2001 marked a period of clarity and transformation for
Valerie. She left the corporate world to devote time to personal
spiritual development and explore ministry in music. Along that path,
Dominion a cappella ensemble was born. Dominion is a dedicated group of
individuals who not only can sing,
but also can testify about life's struggles and how each of them
overcame them to deliver a powerful spiritual message of healing,
compassion, and inspiration.
In addition to her work
with Dominion, Valerie sings with the Grammy-nominated Pacific Mozart
Ensemble, and is the co-founder of blak&brown Productions. She is a
member of the Recording Academy SF chapter and the American Choral
Directors Association.
For more, please visit: www.dominionsings.com
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Terry Lee Williams (Board Treasurer) holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Weber University, a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Utah, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of Creation Spirituality. He recently retired from his position as a health sciences administrator with the University of California Office of the President in Oakland, CA. Williams has served as an ordained Elder and Pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition and was appointed as Bishop Adjunct in the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church based in Ghana, West Africa. His interest in fostering ecumenical spiritual practices from various faith traditions has included spiritual journeys to Tibet, Korea, Africa, India and China. With regard to this work he says, "As a founding member of the OneLife Institute board of directors, I am proud to be part of an organization that promotes deep ecumenical spiritual renewal."
Williams has an historic place in Utah politics where, as a State Senator, he sponsored social justice legislation including the vitriolically debated bill creating the Martin Luther King, Jr. State Holiday. He also advocated economic divestiture to end apartheid and sponsored nuclear disarmament resolutions. He was supporter in the early 1980's of legislative funding for research and education related to the then not well known AIDS virus.
Terry is an Architectural Tour Guide with the Asian Arts Museum and a Docent with the Museum of African Diaspora, both in San Francisco, CA. He serves on several boards, volunteers and tutors with local schools, and is a student of Tai Chi. He writes, "My passion is cultivating what Dr. Howard Thurman called the Inward Journey. This applies to not only the individual, but to the inward journey of the community, to organizations, and to the global family because despite our cherished individualism, we so desperately need one another. I believe that the inward journey leads to this realization and to our connection with the Divine."
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| Terry Williams |
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| Shirley Strong |
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| Shirley Joyce Strong (Board member) has been involved in education, philanthropy and social action for nearly 30 years, fourteen of which were spent with the Levi Strauss Foundation and the Tides Center as executive director of Project Change - a national social justice initiative that catalyzed multi-racial community coalitions. Currently, Strong is Dean of Students at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA and a senior fellow at the Claremont Graduate University Institute for Democratic Renewal. She holds a master's degree in educational psychology/counseling, and had done doctoral work in organization and leadership. Experienced as a teacher, academic counselor, and administrative leader in student affairs at a variety of colleges and universities, she has focused particularly on work with underrepresented and underserved students.
Strong declares herself fortunate that her career matches her personal vision, and both continue to develop in response to her commitment to the re-visioning of a "Beloved Community," as described by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other prophetic leaders over the past century. Her definition of "Beloved Community" is that of an inclusive, interrelated space based on love, justice, compassion, responsibility, shared power and respect for the dignity of all persons, places and things that radically transforms individuals and restructures institutions.
Her maturation into this transformative vision led Shirley to become an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is currently completing the Doctor of Ministry program at Wisdom University in Oakland, California. Bringing together education, social action, and spirituality is an intentional and conscious activity that Shirley wholeheartedly embraces.
For more information, please visit: www.belovedcommunitiesnet.org
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Liza J. Rankow (Board Chair) is an interfaith minister and the founding director of OneLife Institute. She holds a B.A. in Human Development from Hampshire College, Bachelors and Masters degrees in Health Sciences from Duke University School of Medicine, and a Ph.D. in Religion and Social Transformation from Union Institute & University.
Rankow practiced as a PA in pediatric hematology-oncology at Duke Hospital before receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society to address health care access issues for marginalized populations of NC women. She worked as a trainer and consultant for medical professionals, Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) agencies, and community based organizations in the provision of culturally competent care to diverse populations, and developed extensive resources for community and professional education.
Liza has provided spiritual counseling and offered classes and workshops in spiritual development for over 20 years. She is a popular speaker and teacher known for bringing compassion, creativity, and insight to the process of individual and cultural healing and transformation. As a scholar, her main interest is exploring the powerful synergy between mysticism and social change. She maintains a special emphasis in the life and work of Dr. Howard Thurman, teaching a variety of classes on Thurman in both seminary and community settings. Currently she is working on a book examining the theological and paradigmatic context of "mystic-activism" from an interfaith perspective, and offering practical applications of this wisdom for the critical issues of the present day.
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| Liza Rankow |
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| Ali Ar Rasheed |
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| Ali Ar Rasheed (Board member) is a father, grandfather, committed change agent, entrepreneur and spiritual warrior. He advocates self-mastery - the life long conscious process of mental, physical and spiritual development - as the responsibility of every individual who wants to see a New World. He describes this world as one where children and youth are treated as the treasured foundation of our future, adults are engaged in productive valued work, and elders are assured of healthy rewarding lives. A world where our planet is valued as a sacred gift, and all societies work together to sustain human life and the future of our planet. A world where we have finally learned how to resolve societal conflict without violence.
Ar Rasheed is the Founder and CEO of AAR Development Consultants, a network of professionals serving business owners, venture development teams, and corporations (both profit and non-profit). He is a seasoned entrepreneur who has created and managed several businesses of his own, and successfully managed a college campus as well as numerous other organizations and businesses.
Ali’s current volunteer activities include serving on the board of directors of the Train Station Partnership (Redevelopment of the Historic West Oakland Train Station), the Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, Inc. and the Student Program for Academic and Athletic Transitioning, Inc. (SPAAT).
Based upon his experiences in the Black Student Union movement, Black Panther Party, Black Family Collective, etc., Ali envisions long term change as consisting of three main elements: building independent institutions, creating and sustaining alliances with other communities who are organizing for self-sufficiency, and economic development activities that can sustain those institutions and alliances. He believes that we can change the world in our lifetime but to do this we, all of us, must live new, different individual and collective lives.
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Jeannine D. Etter (Community Outreach)
a.k.a. Queen Jahneen, is a writer, editor, radio producer, activist,
promoter, visionary, and Urban Priestess. Raised as a member of a ministerial family, part of Jeannine's life mission is to support all people, of varying faiths, in their personal and spiritual transformation. She works to accomplish this through cultural and spiritual activism.
Her spiritual activism has included organizing healing retreats and sister circles. Jeannine began a grassroots newsletter entitled Sistah Cipher, designed to educate and heal women in the Bay Area, and produced the woman-led radio show Elemental Roots, on 94.1 FM, KPFA Radio in Berkeley. During one Elemental Roots show, she interviewed Hip Hop artist KRS-ONE, who solicited her to be Bay Area Representative for the Temple of Hiphop. Jeannine went on to edit two books for him: The Gospel of Hiphop and Ruminations. She continued in her spiritual journey to study with Hare Krishnas, Sikhs, Hindus, Religious Scientists, Shamans and any spiritual person who would answer her persistent questioning. She spent most of her time at religious institutions, sitting in nature, or checking out the maximum book-limit from local libraries. She continues to edit books on religion, relationships and spirituality.
Jeannine has produced many events in the Bay Area, including artist meet & greets, poetry readings, live performances, film screenings and DJ battles. She is the newest member of the Hotwater Cornbread collective, editing their newsletter, producing events, television and radio, and participating in the weekly "Mouth Off Wednesdays" as a spoken word artist/performer.
She is producer and host of Chocolate Octave, a monthly "neo-soul" radio show airing fourth Wednesdays/Thursdays from midnight-2AM on KPFA, 94.1 FM, in Berkeley, where she also produces regular segments for Hard Knock Radio and the on-line radio station inner Light Radio. Jeannine is also editor of a local newsletter Soul Searching, producer of several healing music and meditation CD's, and visionary behind the instructional video Headwraps 101.
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| Jeannine Etter |
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| Haben Sebhatu |
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| Haben Sebhatu (Volunteer Coordinator)
is from Eritrea, East Africa, and came to the Bay Area as a teenager.
Since that time she has been an active member of the local community -
mentoring young girls, coordinating her own Women's Group, and
promoting health in community based organizations through the use of
natural foods and herbs. She also exercises her creativity by making natural scented candles, soaps and oils.
Haben
earned her Bachelors degree in Managerial Economics from the University
of California, Davis, with a minor in African American Studies. She
works in the Human Resources field for the City of Oakland, where she
is thankful for the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives
of many individuals.
Haben has traveled to different parts of
the world, including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Belize which has
allowed her to learn about different cultures and traditions. Her main
interest is to improve the relationships between the societies and the
youth, particularly related to racial inequalities and injustice in her
community and throughout the world. She is determined to inspire
people from all walks of life to live in spiritual congruence using
prayer, meditation, and healing services.
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Emmanuelle Regis (Sustaining the Soul facilitator) has been involved in social change organizations for over 12 years. She is passionate about working with social justice practitioners who want to create new paradigms for their lives, organizations, and communities aligned with the values of peace, freedom, and human dignity.
She is a life coach, having completed her coach training at Newfield, and is part of a unique cohort of coaches of color committed to the field of social justice. Specializing in ontological coaching, Emmanuelle works in the realms of body, emotion, and language to support wholistic transformation and assist in unfolding the innate knowledge and power of every human being to create. Her commitment as a coach is that all people come away from the relationship with a deep-seated experience of freedom and concrete tools they can take away as their own.
She writes, "I see social change organizations as uniquely positioned to offer a place for individual, community, and cultural transformation and healing far beyond the context of political change. With the incorporation of new tools, new ways of thinking and structuring organizations, and open minds and hearts, the ideal of 'being the change we wish to see in the world' becomes the standard."
Emmanuelle received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science / International Relations from the University of California, San Diego.
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| Emmanuelle Regis |
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